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Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story

Going back to school is a surprisingly enjoyable experience.
57%Game Brain Score
story, gameplay
grinding, replayability
55% User Score Based on 374 reviews
Critic Score 62%Based on 6 reviews

Platforms

PCPCPlaystation 5Playstation 5Playstation 4Playstation 4WindowsWindowsPlayStationPlayStationNintendo SwitchNintendo Switch

About

"Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story" is a simulation RPG where you build and manage a hero school. Recruit students, train them in various skills, and send them on missions to grow your school's reputation. Balance administrative duties with battles in this unique blend of strategy and management.

Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story screenshot
Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story screenshot
Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story screenshot
Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story screenshot
Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story screenshot
Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story screenshot
Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story screenshot
Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story screenshot
Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story screenshot
Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story screenshot
Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story screenshot
+7

55%
Audience ScoreBased on 380 reviews
story80 positive mentions
grinding47 negative mentions

  • The game combines school management and RPG elements, providing a unique gameplay experience.
  • Graphics are charming and the character designs are cute, appealing to fans of anime aesthetics.
  • The leveling system allows for fun character progression and customization, making it enjoyable to build up students.
  • The game suffers from repetitive gameplay and a lack of variety in missions, leading to a grindy experience.
  • Controls are clunky and poorly optimized for both keyboard/mouse and controller, making gameplay frustrating at times.
  • Numerous bugs and technical issues, including crashes and unresponsive quests, detract from the overall experience.
  • story
    594 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story of "Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story" is generally perceived as simple and lacking depth, with many reviewers noting that it could have been executed better. While some appreciate the concept of managing a hero academy and the occasional interesting mission, the overall narrative is described as bland and repetitive, often leading to a grind-heavy experience that detracts from engagement. Additionally, technical issues such as mission crashes and bugs further hinder the storytelling experience, leaving players feeling disconnected from the plot.

    • “The graphics are wonderful, the story is thought out, and side quests provide necessary experience to go through the storyline.”
    • “I really didn't know what to expect out of the story but it felt fine for a kickstarter game and I think that they did a decent job on that.”
    • “I especially enjoy the scripted scenarios you get in some missions; these show some real effort and make missions more interesting.”
    • “The story is simple, although it could have been better (both the story and also side quests), and the execution of some areas could have been differently approached.”
    • “The plot is...there, but not anything to write home about.”
    • “Concerning the story: there is nothing special, just plain generic characters and a plain story about saving the kingdom; it doesn't offer anything memorable to remember this game.”
  • gameplay
    119 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it overly simplistic and repetitive, often comparing it to mobile games. While some appreciate the core mechanics of managing an academy and engaging in missions, others criticize the clunky controls, poor difficulty pacing, and lack of depth, leading to a grindy experience. Overall, the gameplay is seen as needing significant improvements and innovation to elevate the experience.

    • “The gameplay once again is fine; you get students, you build them up, and then you use them as your characters during the missions and combat, simple and to the point.”
    • “I want to support this game because of its innovative gameplay loop of faculty administration and RPG questing.”
    • “Valthirian Arc successfully blends town-building, time-management type gameplay with an action-RPG hack-and-slash experience, which is exactly what it set out to do.”
    • “Gameplay is rather a chore than joy.”
    • “The whole game is far too simplistic; there's no real gameplay, no thought, or anything, plus it's broken.”
    • “The gameplay was boring enough for me that despite completing the game, I'm not going to suffer through another questionable playthrough for the 100% achievement run.”
  • graphics
    66 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players praising the cute chibi art style and overall charm, while others criticize it for feeling outdated, likening it to PS2 graphics. Many appreciate the aesthetic and character designs, but there are complaints about technical issues like freezing and a lack of variety in character sprites. Overall, the visuals are seen as decent but not groundbreaking, with a nostalgic appeal for some players.

    • “The graphics are wonderful, the story is thought out, and side quests provide necessary experience to go through the storyline.”
    • “The chibi art style looks more like GameCube done right than a mobile game, and I love the aesthetic.”
    • “The graphic is outstanding, crisp, and cute.”
    • “Graphics: ps2”
    • “It also doesn't add anything except for a graphics enhancement that, if we're being honest, makes it look like a PS2 game.”
    • “Despite, I am really disappointed by the artwork in Vahss.”
  • grinding
    47 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game is heavily criticized for its grindy nature, with players expressing frustration over repetitive missions and a lack of engaging content as they progress. While some enjoy the grinding aspect in a button-masher format, many find it tedious and unbalanced, particularly as the endgame offers limited options for leveling up characters. Overall, the grinding is seen as excessive and detracts from the potential enjoyment of the game.

    • “This is not helped by the fact that as you approach end game, all the missions with decent XP dry up and you end up grinding the same repetitive missions.”
    • “It does not have very many scenes with plot in general, and you tend to end up grinding for hours to get to the next one, with the dialogue in between those scenes being repetitive.”
    • “I did not encounter any bugs, but there is something even worse – never-ending grinding.”
  • music
    36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the decent quality and situational changes, particularly enjoying the credits and victory songs. However, many find the soundtrack forgettable and bland, lacking memorable tracks or a catchy opening theme, leading to irritation after extended play. Overall, while the music is described as lovely and fitting, it fails to leave a lasting impression.

    • “Without a doubt, the art and music are great, but that's about the only aspect I unreservedly enjoyed.”
    • “Music is lovely and changes according to different situations.”
    • “The music is pretty good, nothing outstanding.”
    • “Everything from the gameplay loop to the music, menus, maps, story feels like it was made to be the blandest possible.”
    • “The music will irritate some after the first hour.”
    • “No opening movie with a catchy song, no main music – unless we count the main menu’s one as such, and no soundtrack that I will remember after I complete the game.”
  • replayability
    18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's replayability is a mixed bag; while it features multiple endings and an update that allows for boss quests to be replayed, many players feel it lacks substantial endgame content and a New Game+ mode. The randomized student enrollment and recipe mechanics offer some variability, but overall, the absence of meaningful replay options has led to dissatisfaction among players.

    • “The story has multiple endings, so there's replayability.”
    • “I mean that would give the game lots more replayability when you can pick up where the game ends and either keep expanding your school or graduate more students.”
    • “The randomized student enrollment can also improve the game's replayability because a random enrollment can change the entire game drastically.”
    • “Not only did I have to play this on my PS5 to get it to work, it also doesn't have a new game + mode or any kind of replayability!”
    • “After finishing the game, I eventually stopped playing because there's no endgame content at all. You couldn't even replay quests, and you'll have nothing to do at the end. However, I later saw the info that there's an update to the game that the boss quests are now replayable.”
    • “- It doesn't offer any suitable endgame content. Other than the hard quests you find near the end of this game, you will not find any more playable missions to level your heroes, except the training missions, which is disappointing if you want to reach a high level. The final chapter at the end just offers errand missions.”
  • stability
    15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game suffers from significant stability issues, with numerous bugs and glitches reported, including freezing, black screens, and unresponsive party members. Players have noted that certain quests are affected by item spawn problems, and overall, the mechanics can feel unpolished and confusing. While the game is enjoyable in parts, its stability concerns detract from the overall experience.

    • “There are some issues that I have with bugs or glitches in this game; some where my party members would run in place and not follow me, some where a party member should be dead and wasn't, or even some where when I closed it and opened the window time would start to fast forward.”
    • “There are also a whole plethora of bugs and glitches that you wonder how in the world these glitches made it past play testing.”
    • “The game is still buggy as I went into a quest which asked me to collect 14 items and I spent 20 minutes walking around the whole map trying to find them, and apparently only 12 of the 14 items spawned in the map.”
  • optimization
    12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The optimization of the game has received mixed feedback; while overall performance is generally good with minimal major bugs, there are significant issues with mouse support and control schemes, indicating a lack of proper optimization. Players have noted long load times that seem disproportionate for a game that could be rendered in a browser, suggesting that further improvements are needed in this area.

    • “I played Valthirian Arc II a lot, and this completely blows it out of the water, from gameplay to appearance to overall performance.”
    • “By raising them, you improve your students’ performance, which, in turn, allows you to complete more and more difficult quests (that net you good rewards).”
    • “But the real issue is with performance and bugs.”
    • “Icons continue to refer to controllers, there is no real mouse support, no mouselook, no click to move, keys can't be bound to the mouse, etc. Clearly, no optimization occurred: the load screens are what I expect from much larger/more intense games, but what I expect from something that can be adequately rendered in a browser.”
    • “There's little weird things like a tutorial page popping up when it shouldn't, but no major bugs or performance issues.”
  • humor
    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is primarily conveyed through its amusing art style, which some players find appealing. However, many reviewers feel that the overall comedic value does not justify the game's price, especially when compared to free alternatives that offer more content and gameplay. While the ability to create funny combos and team setups adds a unique twist, the humor alone may not be enough to elevate the game's worth.

    • “The art is quite funny, and the classes offered seem generic with other RPGs (knights, mages, scouts), but you can choose between passive skills and active ones to form funny combos and teams, offering a unique way to set your heroes and teams.”
  • character development
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Character development in the game is highlighted by appealing character designs that are integrated into missions, contributing to an enjoyable gameplay experience. Overall, players appreciate the aesthetic quality and charm of the characters.

    • “The character designs are nice and are utilized in missions as well.”
    • “The game is fun and features charming character designs.”

Buy Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story

20h Median play time
20h Average play time
20-20h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 4 analyzed playthroughs

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